PARK AND CEMETERY 
complished in Cleveland by its Home Gardening Asso- 
ciation in so limited a space. Its success should be 
credited largely to the fact that its aim is to direct 
the young to do what it is' possible for them to do, and 
as the president says: “We advance step by step.” 
The results have been surprising, but they substantiate 
the wisdom of the oft-expressed idea that to gain im- 
mediate results for any effort in the direction of the 
improvement of home surroundings as a national issue, 
it must be made through the medium of the public 
school children, whose influence in the community has 
not yet been thoroughly appreciated to its final values. 
Tire association hopes during the present year to 
give the school children object lessons in beautifying 
their school grounds by giving- assistance to schools 
that desire to make their yards more attractive, and 
expert advice will be furnished the principals of the 
schools. 
The matter of commercial success was mentioned in 
the opening words, but its full meaning was not ex- 
pressed. It is learned from Cleveland that the florists 
and seedsmen of the city now give every encourage- 
ment to the association, and well they may, for within 
the past year or two their sales have about doubled. 
The question of natural outdoor improvement would be 
more rapidly solved if this view of it could be impressed 
upon the commercial faculties of the community’s mind, 
and at present we know of no greater practical success 
in this vastly desirable national work than that which 
the Home Gardening Association, of Cleveland, has 
attained. 
SABAL PALMETTO, 
By Joseph Meehan. 
To all of us accustomed to large collections of plants, 
the Palmetto tree is quite familiar, and many of the 
readers of Park and Cemetery have seen this palm in 
the splendor of its growth in the South. When by it- 
self, with room to develop, it becomes a tree of 40 feet 
in height, of imposing and most interesting appear- 
ance. Many years ago writers made mention of one 
which stood in front of the postoffice at Charleston,, 
S. Carolina, which was much admired. The illus- 
tration shows a group of a dozen of this palm which 
are in a half wild state near Hamilton, Bermuda. In 
that island this and other palms and plants from the 
tropical part of our country have made themselves 
a home, and in some places are so numerous that it 
suggests that they are indigenous. 
In our own country there are three species native, 
the one illustrated, S. Palmetto, S. Adansoni, and S. 
serrulatum, the latter known as Serenoa serrulata. It 
may be that some of these are also native to Bermuda ; 
at any rate, another species, S. Blackburnianum, is, 
being a species growing 4 to 5 feet high and known to 
many plant growers as the Fan, or Thatch Palm. The 
5 I 
three sorts found in our own country, already men- 
tioned, are found from South Carolina to Florida, along 
the coast. The Palmetto is the largest, the next being 
Adansoni, but this makes but from 4 to 6 feet ; the 
serrulatum is almost or quite a creeping species, and is 
hardier than the others, enduring some frost without 
injury, in fact. 
In the South the Palmetto is known as the Cabbage 
Palm, as well as Palmetto. It often affords unusual 
interest there, because of adventurers in the way of 
plants which it sustains. The polypody of the South, 
Polypodium incanum, is often found nestling under 
the crown of leaves, and up its trunk are often seen 
the trumpet vine, Bignonia radicans, and the cross 
vine, B. capreolata. When so clothed, especially when 
the vines are in flower, the effect is very fine. 
When to be transplanted, it is recommended to cut 
off all the leaves and roots and bury the trunk a foot 
SABAL PALMETTO (PALMETTO PALM.) 
or more deeper than before, when complete success 
may be looked for. 
As the leaves are all at the top of the trunk, it 
may convey the idea that but little shade is afforded, 
but this idea would be an erroneous one. The majes 
tic leaves are often 8 to 10 feet in length, which would 
be a spread of 20 feet, ample enough to afford a good 
shade, as indeed it does. 
How the sight of this group makes one wish it 
were possible to grow it in the North ! As a fact, there 
is a palm of close resemblance to this which is much 
hardier than those of our country, the Chamaerops ex- 
celsa, from China. This will endure 20 degrees of 
frost in England, and would surely live with us much 
farther North than would 
our own. 
